Mostly About Organized Crime

10/17/2016

The 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia "is selling assault rifles to Islamic State leaders in Libya in return for looted archaeological treasures" according to Italian newspaper La Stampa as reported by The Australian:

La Stampa reports that the Calabrian network, which dominates Europe's drug trade, works with the Camorra in Naples to buy Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers smuggled out of Ukraine and Moldova by the Russian mafia. The armaments are then traded in return for ancient Roman and Greek statues that Isis fighters have dug up illegally in Libya, which was a colony of the two ancient cultures. Isis has ruled over swathes of the country for months.

The Italian Mafia then sells the acquired treasures to Russian and Chinese collectors.

So glad that organized crime has found a way to make a buck out of the world turmoil generated by Islamic terrorism.

05/20/2016

Two so-called corrections officers -- Kevin McCoy and Mohammad Sufian -- are among 17 defendants busted for their alleged roles in smuggling drugs and weapons into Rikers Island jails as reported by the Daily News.

03/29/2016

Federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement have arrested more than 1,100 people in a drive against Hispanic gangs "that traffic guns, drugs and people across United States borders" as reported by Mike McPhate for The New York Times: "of the 1,133 people arrested during the five-week operation, more than 900 were members or associates of gangs, including MS-13, the Surenos, the Nortenos, the Bloods and several others based in prisons," and "a majority of the enforcement actions took place in and around Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, El Paso, Atlanta, and San Juan, Puerto Rico."

03/24/2016

The Italian Mafia is trading guns for narcotics with Muslim terrorists as reported by Barbie Latza Nadeau for The Daily Beast: "Michele del Prete, an Italian counter-terrorism official who has been focusing on the links between organized crime and violent jihadists, warns that the two forces of evil have found a comfortable partnership." Moreover, American intelligence has known of "the terrorist-mafia connection for some time," and in a 2005 report the FBI warned "criminal interaction between Italian organized crime and Islamic extremist groups provides potential terrorists with access to funding and logistical support from criminal organizations with established smuggling routes and an entrenched presence in the United States."